1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to information presentation. More particularly, the present invention relates to rewritable information presentation systems.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of media on which to record information dates to the beginning of civilization itself. Paper is a common media for recording information. With the exception of the use of pencils, and erasable inks which work with varying degrees of success, recording (including printing and writing) on paper and other media is of a permanent nature. There are also various purposes for changeable non-permanent, presentation of information. In commercial settings, changeable signs consisting of individual indicia bearing placards which can be arranged as needed on a support to form text messages are known. Such devices are mechanical in nature and once prepared by a user do not require any power source for sustained operations. Whiteboards are also useful as an erasable medium for color hand written notes and diagrams. Whiteboards have to some extent, supplanted traditional blackboards and attained a degree of popularity in commercial settings.
The exponential growth of the Internet during the past decade has been accompanied by a massive increase in the amount of textual and graphical information that is stored electronically. Such information is typically viewed on a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or a nematic Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) type monitor. Such displays require electric power to sustain the display of information.
Recently so-called electronic paper has been developed. One form of electronic paper includes very small, brightly colored beads suspended in a thin layer of dark colored oil that is contained between two planar walls. By imagewise application of electric fields, the brightly colored beads are selectively caused to move toward one of the two walls, thereby forming a monochrome image that is composed of the brightly colored beads against a dark background of the oil. A variant of this technology uses tiny balls that each have a dark and a light colored hemisphere, and a permanent dipole moment. The balls are rotated by an imagewise applied field so as to selectively present either the dark hemisphere or the light hemisphere in a viewing direction thereby forming a monochrome image.
In the specific area of consumer electronics, and in particular in the area of wireless communication devices logos and names are sometimes printed on devices. Wireless network companies often desire that phones used in their system bear their company name or logo. This requires manufacturers of wireless communication devices to produce the same or similar wireless communication device with a myriad of different logo or wireless network company names.